Baffle seal



Aug. 11, 1942.

INVENTOR Patented Aug. 11, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BAFFLE SEAL David E. Fields, Tulsa, Okla.

Application June 11, 1941, Serial No. 397,635

1 Claim.

The invention relates to baffle seals and has for its object to provide a device of this character comprising spaced plates between the opposite sides of which pusher strips are slidably mounted for forcing outwardly packing strips and inwardly extending alined pusher strip arms, terminating on opposite sides of rotatable 'cam members carried by a rotatable shaft extending longitudinally between the plates.

A further object is to provide the rotatable shaft with guide discs, rotatably mounted within longitudinally extending semicircular shaped channels in the inner sides of the plates.

A further object is to rigidly attach one end of the plates to the stationary tube sheet so that the baffle plate can be assembled along with the tubes in the heat exchanger shell and removed, as a unit, from the shell when desired.

A further object is to provide means whereby the rotatable shaft may be rotated for forcing outwardly or releasing the pusher strips after the unit has been assembled within the shell.

With the above and other objects in View the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts as hereinafter set forth, shown in the drawing, described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention may be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is 'a vertical longitudinal sectional view through a conventional form of heat exchanger and through the baffle seal therein.

Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view through the heat exchanger cell, tube sheet and baflie seal.

Figure 3 is a vertical transverse sectional view taken on line 3-3: of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a detail perspective view of a portion of the heat exchanger and bafile seal, parts being broken away to better show the structure.

Referring to the drawing, the numeral I designates the heat exchanger shell, 2 the stationary tube sheet and 3 the tubes carried by the tube sheet, and which are removable with the tube sheet.

Secured by welding, or in any other manner, at 4; to the inner side of the tube sheet} are upper and lower baffle seal plates 5 in registry with each other. The plates 5 are slightly narrower than the inside diameter of the shell I, shown in Figure 3, and connected together by spaced rivets 6, which rivets form guides for the pusher strip arms I carried by the longitudinally extending pusher strips 8.

The pusher strip arms I extend inwardly in alinement as shown in Figure 4 and Figure 2, and terminate at opposite sides of the rotatable double cams 9 carried by the operating shaft l0, and it will be seen that when the cams 9 are rotated 90 degrees from the position shown in Fig- -ure 4 to the position shown in Figure 3, the pusher strips 8 will be forced outwardly, thereby forcing the packing strips ll into packing engagement with the inner periphery of the heat exchanger shell I. It will be noted that the ends of the double cams 9 are flattened, therefore it will be seen that the expansive pressure of the packing strips II will hold the adjacent ends of the arms 1 against the flattened ends, hence it will not be necessary to provide means for preventing accidental rotation of the operating shaft Ill.

The shaft [0 is maintained in position at all times by means of round discs l2 thereon, and these discs have bearings in semicircular channels I3 carried by the upper and lower plates 5, therefore there is no danger of the shaft becoming stuck incident to corrosion, scale and the like, a common difficulty now experienced with operating means for sealing strips of baflle seals. At the same time, when the baffle seal is removed from the heat exchanger along with the tube sheet 2, the parts can be easily disassembled for cleaning and repair purposes. It will be noted when the tube sheet, with its baffle seal and tubes, is removed for cleaning purposes, the packer strips can be placed in position between the ,plates 5 with the parts in position shown in Figure 4, and after the tube sheet and parts carried thereby are placed in the exchanger, the seal :can be easily and quickly made by rotating the shaft l0.

One end of the shaft I0 is provided with a rectangularly shaped head I4, adapted to receive a conventional form of socket wrench inserted through the floating tube sheet l5 when the plug I6 is removed, after which the domed tube sheet cover I1 is placed in position, as well as plug l6.

From the above it will be seen that a bafile seal is provided, which is simple in construction, and one wherein both packing strips are forced into engagement with the shell simultaneously by the rotation of a single shaft between said strips and on the longitudinal axis of the heat exchanger.

The invention having been set forth what is 1 claimed as new and useful is:

heat exchangers comprising pusher strips at opposite sides of the baflie for forcing packing strips outwardly, said pusher strips being disposed between spalced plates, of means for forcing said pusher strips simultaneously outwardly, said means comprising a rotatable shaft between the plates, round guide discs carried by said shaft and disposed in longitudinal channels of the plates,

inwardly extending guide arms carried by the pusher strips, said arms extending inwardly in mutual alinement from the respective pusher strips, and rotatable cam members on said shaft and between said alined guide arms and adapted to simultaneously force said guide arms outwardly upon rotation of the shaft.

DAVID E. FIELDS. 

